PIL alleges Rs 26,000 cr irrigation scam in Vidarbha

A PIL filed in the Bombay High Court has alleged that an unholy nexus of contractors, officers and politicians has siphoned off a staggering amount of Rs 26,000 crore meant for irrigation projects in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

A division bench of justices Pratap Hardas and M L Tahaliyani has issued notices to the Union Government (which is financing the Gosikhurd project), Maharashtra Government and Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC), seeking replies within four weeks.

Activist Mohan Karemore, Amit Khot and city-based lawyer Bharti Dabhadkar, who is a member of Lokmanya Bapuji Aney Smarak Samiti, have filed the petition, seeking high-level inquiry into the scam and expeditious completion of irrigation projects.

The PIL cites newspaper reports about the alleged scam, involving sudden cost escalations, irregularities in grant of revised administrative approvals and twisting of norms in planning and execution.

Within a span of seven months in the year 2009, the cost of 38 irrigation projects executed by VIDC escalated by a whopping Rs 20,050.06 crore from the earlier Rs 6,672.27 crore, it alleges.